On the long road towards becoming a country of justice and reconciliation, which Peru desperately wants to be, formal laws are not the only way to success. Change often comes from individuals, from civic action and the strong belief that it is possible to set the wheel of balance and equality in motion ourselves. I wanted to find out about some of these initiatives.

To be honest though, terms such as fair trade, sustainable consumption, social responsibility, and sustainability always sound like empty promotional buzzwords to me. Perfect for a shop’s marquee, but with nothing much to them. They often seem like a facade naive and goodhearted people adhere to and organized scoundrels take advantage of – at least in my home country Peru. 

Skeptical about these marketing terms, I took out my notebook and started looking for stories that could change my prejudices. I emphasized the people behind the stories and what they had to say about the things they are doing. 
Luckily, I found two people who grew up with the ideals of sustainability from a young age. They have decided to do business in a different way, dedicating themselves to social and ecological activities that do not result in any personal profit. 

Astrid Gutsche: Luxury chocolates for international restaurants

As a child, Astrid Gutsche used to stroll the streets of Paris with her father in search of new flavors. “My father loved ginger dipped in chocolate. At home, there was not a day without chocolate. Every one of them had its own flavor and my mother would eat an entire bar like a sandwich,” she tells me laughing, recalling her childhood in Paris.

Paris was also where Astrid met her future husband. Back then, Astrid and Gastón Acurio, the son of a Peruvian diplomat and a renowned chef, attended the same cooking school. He specialized in main dishes; her emphasis was on deserts and pastries. Today “Astrid & Gastón” is the name of their global restaurant chain with franchises all over South America and Spain. 

After more than twenty years living in Peru, Astrid Gutsche has assimilated so well that people often say she is more Peruvian than the potato. And it is true: Her blond hair and twinkling blue eyes shine brightly throughout the land of the Incas, and she melts into a sincere embrace with all the people she meets. I experienced her warm hug first hand when we first met, as do all the farmers from rural and indigenous communities with whom she has been working to find the best cocoa plants.

Astrid is a pastry chef, not a cocoa planter or trader. But she’s a frequent buyer of high quality cocoa, and she works incessantly towards her goal of using her purchasing power to ensure a decent income for producers. To her, buying fair trade isn’t enough. Official “fair trade”, she says, hasn’t become truly “fair” yet, as the resellers and middlemen still swallow too much money. This is why she decided to ignore the middlemen and buy the cocoa directly from the farmers in Peru’s Andean and Amazonian villages.  

The Goicochea family: Organic seafood restaurant for local workers

Alcides Goicochea’s father Rodolfo was born in the Andean city of Cajabamba in the north of Peru. Having grown up on the Huarasullo farm surrounded by nature, Rodolfo is an impressive treasure trove of agricultural knowledge and know-how. Today this store of knowledge is one of the main pillars of the family’s local business: the “Los Herrajes” seafood restaurant in the Peruvian town of Huanchaco. Although few people know about it, Los Herrajes offers healthy, organic food made from home-grown crops.

The story of Los Herrajes is one of many personal, instinctive decisions. In 1995, Rodolfo’s wife and Alcides’ mother, Luchita Cruz, needed a new job.

She had worked in fine jewelry, which collapsed because of the increasing popularity of gold-plated imitations. In search of a new occupation to satisfy his energetic wife, Don Rodolfo had the idea of setting up a food-related business. He didn’t have a clear vision yet and his initial ideas ran the gamut from a chicken broth business to a restaurant serving typical Peruvian food. The decision in favor of a seafood restaurant was based more on instinct than on a reasoned assessment of what the people of the area – mostly local workers – might crave as a nutritious lunch. 

But although they wavered about the kind of restaurant they wanted to start for a while, from the start the whole family was determined to provide high quality food and to respect the existing food businesses in the area. They knew they had to find their own market niche and not start competing for the same customers.

Once the family decided on seafood, Alcides started visiting the docks in Trujillo, the region’s capital, at least three or four times a week to purchase fresh fish. “I had to be at the docks by 3:50 am at the latest, because the battle to get to the fishermen first and to get hold of the best fish was tough.” But buying from a wholesaler instead of from the fishermen wasn’t an option for him: “If you buy a hundred kilos of fish on the wholesale market, 50% is good, 30% regular and 20% is other kinds of fish thrown in as makeweight. So your customers are not satisfied, and a disgruntled customer is very unlikely to come back.”

Over time, Alcides has established a working relationship with some good seafood suppliers who adhere to his quality demands and sell their fish directly to him. For him, the basis of any business is maintaining open, sincere and honest relationships:

“Our suppliers know that they cannot send us fish that is not fresh, that was not caught that day, or does not have the proper firmness. We are aware that we have to pay a little more for this service, of course. In the end, the goal is not to do business for just one day, but for a lifetime.”